In his Kiss
by Mrpointyhorns
Summary: Once, Stan was able to overlook his attraction to other boys. Then, High School happened. Stan has to come to terms with everything. The boring events that fills up a teenager's summer and how they are the most life alternating. Stan/Kyle, Craig/Wendy


Title: In his Kiss

Author: Mrpointyhorns aka Blemery

Author's Email: T

Status: Complete

Part: 1/1

Pairings: Stan/Kyle, Wendy/Craig, Stud!Clyde

Characters: Stan, Kyle, Wendy, Craig, Clyde, Token, Bebe, Heidi, Rebecca, Kenny and Cartman

Warnings: AU, the setting is different the characters are not

Spoilers: None.

Summary: Once, Stan was able to overlook his attraction to other boys. Then, High School happened. Stan has to come to terms with everything.

Author's Notes: The ultimate goal I had when writing this story was to write about the nothingness that fills up a teenager's summer and how it is the most life alternating period of a person's life.

Beta: Used kyleisagod as a sound board

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Matt and Trey. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Stan stirred his ketchup around with his fries. He was at McDonald's with his best friend Wendy, her boyfriend Craig, and their friends: Bebe, Heidi, Rebecca, Clyde and Token. It was the middle of summer, hot for South Park. They had spent most of the morning hanging out in Token's basement but had decided to come to McDonald's for lunch. Then they were going to a movie. Stan wasn't exactly happy about it. He had been brooding for the entire summer, possibly for his entire life. Over the last year Stan had fallen in love with his lab partner, Kyle. When Stan had first started school in the fall he hadn't known Kyle. Kyle had gone to school at a different Junior High. It was a hard adjustment meeting so many new people but falling in love only made it worse. This love was what caused him to brood. He had always been gay but he had been able to hide the fact for most of his life. Now that he was in love however it made it very difficult to do so. He had only told one person about his crush, that was his best friend. She had been shocked at first, but now she was very supportive. She told Stan that he needed to tell Kyle how he felt, but Stan couldn't do that. He didn't know if Kyle liked him back and he didn't want to be turned down if he didn't. Instead he favored pining over what he couldn't have.

"Yo, Stan. Wake up." Craig punched Stan's arm. It made Stan's arm numb. "We're leaving."

Stan nodded standing up. Everyone was already outside. The only movie theater in town had closed three years ago when a mega movie theater was built near the outlet mall off the interstate about ten miles outside of town. None of Stan's friends were old enough to drive, but they thought they were pretty cool since their parents let them take the bus to the outlet. Stan followed Craig outside. He put his hands in his pockets and kicked a pebble down the sidewalk as they went to the bus stop.

It was Wendy who took his arm and walked beside him. She smiled sympathetically at Stan. "You're thinking about him aren't you?"

"Yeah, sorry." Stan smiled slightly. He knew that Wendy was trying to help. Trying to keep his mind off of Kyle so he won't suffer it just didn't work that well.

"I think I have something that will help you," Wendy promised. He looked at her a little skeptical, but she wouldn't say anything more. Stan went back to kicking the pebble and looking at the ground.

The bus was fifteen minutes late, but no one cared they would just catch the next movie time and hang around the mall until it started. Wendy sat down next to Stan on the bus. Stan frowned and looked behind them at Craig. Craig threw him the finger, but didn't seem too upset that Wendy was with him instead of Craig. "You told Craig?"

"I told Craig, what?" Wendy asked.

"You know," Stan whined loudly. He didn't want other people to know about his problem. It was embarrassing. Plus, he wasn't sure how they would react.

"No Stan. I just told him that I'm helping you with your crush. I didn't say who," Wendy promised. Stan didn't believe her at first, but the look on her face forced him to believe. "Anyway I think I can help you." She pulled a pad of paper out of her mini backpacks. She flipped to the first page. On it were a five multiple choice questions. At the top was an underlined title that read: Does He Like You?

"Wendy." Stan looked around trying to see where their other friends. They were all at least one seat away. Stan turned back to Wendy. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sick of you moping around. You said that you couldn't tell him because you didn't know if he liked you. Well this will let us know if he does." Wendy pointed to the first question. "When you look at him, what does he do?"

"Wendy! Shh, will you shut up." Stan sunk in the chair trying to hide. He didn't want anyone looking over and realizing that she was reading a quiz about a boy to a boy. "I don't want to do this."

"Oh stop it Stan. Are you a homophobe?"

"I'm not afraid of my self. I'm afraid of them."

Wendy shook her head. "Well stop it. You're not a coward."

"Will you please just say she?" Stan asked.

"No! Kyle is a boy Stan. It's insulting. Unless, does Kyle want to be a girl?" Wendy asked.

"No! I mean, I don't think so. He didn't say anything."

"Right, first question. When you look at **HIM**_,_ what does **HE**do?" Wendy pointed to the first multiple choices. "A) he never looks at me."

_It was the first day of school. Stan and Wendy had just picked out their lockers. They were right next to each other. Stan didn't have any books yet and since he never had a locker before he didn't know how to personalize one yet. Wendy was putting pictures of rock stars and tubes of lotion inside hers. Stan leaned against his locker, next to her, and waited for her to finish so that they could get to class. "Then, Craig started to put his hand up my shirt," Wendy explained. She wasn't dating Craig at the time, but they had spent the Saturday before making out on Craig's couch. "I slapped him away. He's lucky I let him touch them on the outside of my shirt. I mean if he wants more he's going to have to ask me out."_

_Stan nodded his head. "Wait, you let him touch them on the outside of your shirt?" Stan asked. _

"_Don't say it like that. I'm not a slut," Wendy scolded Stan. "Teen magazine says that it's alright to explore."_

"_I don't know, Wendy. You're not even dating him," Stan said._

_Wendy shoved Stan's shoulder hard. Stan frowned at her. "I touch him on the outside of his clothes. Why should he be the only one that has fun?"_

_"You touch him on the outside of his clothes?" Stan asked. He was particularly shocked by this information, but it was just last year that Wendy kissed a boy and now she was being touched and touching people. When did that happen? _

_As Wendy started to answer him, Stan saw Kyle for the first time. He was walking backwards calling out to one of his friends. He wore a green hat, but Stan could see little red curls sticking out from the back. He had a black backpack on and wore black pants and a dark hoodie. Stan couldn't see his face, but his ass was the most amazing thing that Stan had ever seen. He was able to get a good close up look of it because Kyle, not looking where he was going backed into Stan. "Ow," Stan said. It didn't hurt but Kyle stepped on his foot and squished Stan against the locker._

_"Watch where you're going!" Wendy yelled at Kyle mostly because she was annoyed that her side of the conversation was cut off._

_"Sorry, dude," Kyle said taking a step away from Stan. He barely gave him a glance. "I didn't see you there." He stepped around the two friends and kept walking down the hall without looking back. Stan stared after him completely missing what Wendy had to say._

Stan looked at Wendy his face contorted with angst. Already one question into it he was failing. He opened his mouth to say A), but Wendy gave him a pointed look. "I haven't finished Stan."

"But I already know," Stan mumbled to himself.

Wendy rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She touched the letter B) and read: "He smiles a little and then looks away."

"Oh..." Stan looked surprised. "Well when we were assigned lab partners..."

_High School was not going as planned everything was so different. No longer were the days of playing wall ball at lunch, people didn't send their friends to talk to the friend of the person they liked to find out if the person liked them back and going to second base, was no longer a scandal, but expected. Plus, none of the girls were taller than him anymore. It was frightening and confusing. In Junior High, he hid his attraction to other boys. He wasn't confused then, but he had grown up with all of the boys that went to Junior High with him. He felt that being interested in one of them would be like being interested in his own sister. If he was interested in the girls that grew up with him it would have been easier. From the time he was seven until the time he was thirteen the only girls he talked to were the ones that played on the same sports teams as him. Even though, he went to the same school as the other girls he didn't think of them as family like he did with his guys friends. He could burp and fart in front of a boy, and bump shoulders with them in the hall, but he didn't do that with girls, unless they were tomboys and none of his friends were ever interested in any of the tomboys._

_High School was filled with new faces. There were two and a half other junior high schools in the area that were combined in order to fill the school. So there were guys that he could think about without feeling like he wanted to claw his eyes out. Sidelong glances in the hall, brief peeks in class and subtle gazes in the locker room were becoming normal. He was getting really good at it. He found that if he looked like he was space out that he could stare for almost as long as he wanted, if he was caught he could just shrug it off and say that he was thinking not staring. Wendy was the only one becoming really suspicious. Craig might have been, but he was too distracted with the goal of getting to touch Wendy with her clothes off. No one else was particular concerned or unconcerned with Stan's spacing out habit. _

_It soon became clear to Stan who he preferred to look at, namely Kyle. He looked at other guys sure, but if given a choice he would always look at Kyle first. It was like his eyes were two pieces of steal and Kyle's body a magnet. He wasn't very good at looking like he was spacing out when he looked at Kyle. He often had to force himself to look away before getting caught. It was especially difficult to keep from staring at Kyle in biology. It was the only class that he was in with Kyle and he sat behind Kyle to the left. So he could usually watch Kyle for as long as he wanted without getting caught. That was until three weeks into the quarter. They were done with theory and now they were going to do some hands on experiments that meant that they needed lab partners. Their teacher said that she randomly assigned the students partners. So when Stan heard Kyle's name he crossed his fingers under the desk. He wasn't sure if he was hoping to be Kyle's partner or to not be his partner. When he heard his own name called his eyes immediately landed on his new lab partner._

_Kyle turned his head and caught his eye. He smiled at him. Stan's heart fluttered and he held his breath. It was only seconds and Kyle had turned away. He was gathering his books as the teacher continued to assign partners. Stan let out his held breath and whispered, "Yes."_

"I guess that's happened too," Stan mused looking at Wendy. "What are the other choices?"

Wendy grinned knowing that she now held Stan's complete interest. "C) He looks me in the eyes for what seems like a long time."

"Well, I don't think it counts." Stan shifted slightly.

"What happened?" Wendy asked looking pleased at Stan's discomfort.

"Well, we agreed to work on our project one afternoon and I was working on cutting the wood for our bridges…"

_The wood they were given was very thin, but if it wasn't cut with a knife it would splitter and they wouldn't be able to use as much of it. So they had brought in craving knifes and started measuring and cutting the pieces that they would need. Kyle was a little late, he was part of the debate team and they had practice. Stan had gone to a few of their mock debates, Kyle was amazing. He could argue any topic, either side. He talked people into a wall and his voice was amazing to listen to. _

_Stan didn't get to work right away not wanting to look over eager, and also wanting to extend the time that he got to work with Kyle. However, he didn't want Kyle to think that he couldn't get work done without him. If he had a good start Kyle would be proud of him and that was a benefit to. So after getting situated and texting Wendy, he pulled out his notes and started working on the narrow strips of wood, leaving the wider pieces for later. He started cutting the ten foot piece of wood into five inch pieces. He used a pencil to mark the length. Then he started cutting. He was well into the second ten foot piece of wood when Kyle came into the room. Stan stopped in the middle of his work to look up at his lab partner. Kyle looked happy like a lion that just chased off a rival male and killed all young cubs and now had six lionesses to fuck. He probably wiped Cartman over the floor, or something._

_Kyle shook his head as he made his way over to Stan's table. "What an idiot," he muttered. He started going through his bag for what he would need to help with their project. "Wow, look at you!"_

"_Huh?" Stan looked up. He had been staring at Kyle's chest. He was breathing slightly irregularly. It made Stan's heart pound slightly, even though he knew Kyle wasn't panting because of him. _

_When he looked up he saw Kyle staring at the work that he done. He looked really delighted. "This is great Stan! I didn't think you would have anything done." _

_The piece of wood that Stan was working on snapped. It splintered into a few pieces and one, a small one flew into Stan's eye. "Fuck!"_

"_Whoa!" Kyle hurried over. He didn't doubt Stan at all. "Are you okay?"_

"_I think I got a piece in my eye." Stan pawed at his eye and flinched as he pushed the splinter in deeper. He blinked rapidly trying to flush it out._

"_Let me see?" Kyle asked. Stan didn't have time to respond. Kyle put his hands on either side of Stan's head and tilted it forward and up. He brought Stan's face close to his so that he could get a good look at the eye. "Stan you have to open them."_

"_I can't." Stan gulped. He was so close to Kyle. Practically underneath him, and that made him nervous. Plus, the splinter fucking hurt; he didn't want to open his eyes and make it hurt more._

_Kyle kept one hand on the right side of Stan's head and moved his other to pry open Stan's left eye. Stan gulped more shifting nervously. Kyle was so close to him. He felt like he was going to be sick. Kyle's eyes searched his eye looking for the splinter. After a moment Kyle found it and dove in with his right hand to pluck it out. He flicked it away, carefully, having the experience of someone that wore contacts. With the removal of the piece of wood and Stan was feeling better already. Kyle kept his eye open for a while longer still looking. When he found nothing, he let go of Stan's eye but didn't move away. "Blink a few times." _

_Stan did as he was told and nodded his head. "It's gone. I'm fine." Kyle stared at his eyes for a little longer. It made Stan uncomfortable but he knew that Kyle didn't mean anything by it. He was a perfectionist and he would make sure that there were no other splinters before finishing. Stan wanted to think that it was because of who Stan was and because Kyle really cared about him. However, he knew that was not the case. _

_Kyle pulled away after a while taking a step back. "You sure you feel okay? Do you want to meet tomorrow instead?"_

"_No!" Stan blurted out. Although, his eye felt itchy and hurt still, he didn't want to lose his Kyle time. It sounded pathetic, but he knew he'd be worse off if Kyle wasn't around. Kyle shrugged pulling out a pair of lab goggles that he owned. They were clear blue and fit better then the stupid goggles that they offered at school. Stan took the offered glasses and put them on. Kyle went to grab a pair of the school goggles. Stan smiled pleased with himself. Kyle had let him use his own personal goggles, Stan pretended that it was the same as a boy giving a girl his jacket because it was cold. Stan couldn't help but feel happy about the situation. He didn't even care if his eye still hurt or that they were here to study. _

Wendy stared at Stan. "Stan that totally counts! He acted like your knight there. No one has even done anything like that for me."

"Hey! I carried you to your house when you fell and twisted your ankle back in the seventh grade. You were taller than I was then." Stan pointed out.

"You're gay Stan! It's not the same." Wendy shook her head.

"It's the same. Kyle's straight. He was just being Kyle. That's just how he is," Stan defended. He felt uneasy thinking that Kyle was trying to rescue him.

Wendy shook her head more. "I hate to break it to you Stan, but Kyle is not that nice. He might have taken me to the nurse or offered to work the next day, but he wouldn't save just anyone like that."

"Kyle's nice." Stan frowned. "He is."

"I know he was nice to _you_ Stan," Wendy sighed. "Want to ask Craig?"

"No!" Stan glared at her. "I already told you. I don't want anyone to know."

Wendy glared at him. She thought she knew what was best, but she wasn't the one that had to come out to her friends. She just didn't understand. "So do you say C)?"

"Is that all there is?" Stan asked.

"No. There is D) and E). D) says: he seems like he's looking at me, but looks away as soon as I look at him."

"Well he does that, I'm sure of it." Stan had caught Kyle looking at him a few times, and it wasn't just in class. He remembered the first time he caught Kyle looking at him when he didn't think he was looking.

_Stan was eating lunch with his friends in the high school cafeteria. Wendy was sitting next to him talking to him. "Then, Rebecca said, 'nuh uh. I would never kiss a guy like that.' I don't think the other girls believed her. I didn't. Rebecca would kiss anything! You know I caught her kissing Curly under the bleachers at the football game. He's a goth!"_

_Stan nodded along with Wendy. One of the good things about being friends with her, he never had to work at it. She did all the work for the both of them. It was selfish, but he liked it when she controlled the conversation or told him what to do or say. It made it so much easier on him. He smiled slightly as he bit into his burger. He let his eyes wander the cafeteria as he ate. It was a good way to watch people without being caught staring. When his eyes caught Kyle's, he dropped his eyes and looked away. He turned to Wendy. "Wends is he still looking over here."_

_"Who!" Wendy looked around the cafeteria confused about Stan's actions. He hadn't told her that he was gay yet. He knew she wouldn't be angry about it, but he didn't know if she could keep a secret from the guys or the rest of her friends. He wasn't willing to let everyone know yet. So he couldn't come out to her just in case._

_"Kyle." Stan picked up his soda and took a sip hiding his face with the cup he looked around it to see if Kyle was still watching him. He was. Kyle smiled at him and looked away. Stan's stomach fluttered. He grabbed Wendy's arm and bounced in his chair. "He was looking at me. Keep looking okay. Tell me if he looks back."_

_"Umm okay..." Wendy glanced over Stan's shoulder at Kyle. He was looking at Stan again. Wendy looked back at Stan. "Is this a game?"_

_"N-no what are you talking about?" Stan asked stealing a glance at Kyle and barely catching him as he turned away._

_"Stan, do you have a crush on him or something?" Wendy asked. She wasn't kidding. Stan could tell by the tone. He flinched. He didn't want to lie to a direct question. "You do! Oh my gosh!" She shrieked. "I don't believe this. I'm going to tell Craig."_

_"You can't do that Wendy." Stan grabbed her shoulders and held her down to her seat. He shook her a little. "It's my secret okay. I don't want anyone to know, not yet. I'm still just a freshman."_

_Wendy stared at Stan for a while, but shrugged, eventually. "Okay, but you have to tell me everything."_

"Oh yeah I remember that." Wendy nodded. She laughed at Stan. "You didn't stop talking for a week. I was like who is this boy."

"Well, once you knew I couldn't stop talking even if I wanted. I held it in for so long. It was frustrating." Stan smiled. He knew that Wendy was also fond of the memory. Their friendship was strong and Wendy didn't even pretend to be put out when Stan filled her in on everything. That's what was nice about having a girl for a best friend. He liked being friends with Craig, Clyde and Token but he could never be honest or genuine around them. That's just not how they acted with each other. Friendship for them was teasing each other relentlessly and knowing that they wouldn't even talk to someone they didn't like. Stan needed both kinds of relationships. He couldn't imagine gushing about his feelings to everyone.

"E…"

"Wendy!" Bebe called from the front of the bus. She and Craig were standing by the stairs, but the rest of their friends were already off the bus. "Hurry up! I want to get inside before my hair starts matting."

"Gross," Stan muttered standing up. He was slightly relieved. He liked doing the quiz with Wendy, but he really didn't want to decide his love life with a magazine quiz. Besides, what did it matter anyway, even if they decided that Kyle might like him back Stan still didn't have a chance of seeing him until fall, anything could happen by that time. Stan followed Wendy off the bus and across the street to where their friends were waiting by the theater.

Wendy offered some hair care product to Bebe and she was helping her use it. Stan went to stand next to Token and Clyde. The latter was hocking spit at the ground trying to out do the size of the last. Stan stepped closer to Token. He stared at Stan for a while, but neither had anything to say. They had known each other so long that it didn't bother either of them, but Stan thought perhaps he should start hanging out with him and Clyde more. So much had happened since entering High School. He wasn't even sure who Token was dating. It wasn't right for him to not have even one thing to talk about with one of his oldest friends. Maybe things would be different if he wasn't in the closet. He didn't want to open his mouth and have one thing lead to another until his secret was out. That was worse then telling his friends he was gay.

"The movie isn't until 4:30," Craig said interrupting the group of friends. He had been elected to get the tickets. It was easier and took less time for all of them. He held out the tickets. Clyde reached out and ripped his ticket away from Craig. Bebe, Heidi and Rebecca took their tickets next. Craig moved his arm holding the tickets out to Token and then to Stan. He held on to his and Wendy's tickets. "What do you want to do until then?"

"Clyde take us to your dad's store. I really need new pumps," Heidi said looking over at Clyde. She wasn't dating him or anything but she knew he would continue to be fooled by female attention and she used this to her advantage.

"No," Clyde grumbled turning around. "I'm going to gameworks."

Heidi glared at the back of his head and followed after him. "Come on. If you take me to look at shoes for thirty minutes I'll give you twenty bucks and be your cheerleader until the movies starts."

"Hey I want shoes too," Rebecca said. She and Bebe followed after Clyde.

Token shrugged looking at Craig. "Gameworks sounds okay to your right?" Craig and Token were unofficially each others bffs. They didn't mention it in front of Stan or Clyde because they didn't want to hurt their feelings or sound like pussies but it was true. In fact, Stan would almost say they had the definition of a bromance going on. Wendy denied that it was that bad, but Stan knew them better than she did.

Craig looked over at Wendy. "Are you two coming?"

"We'll window shop on the way over, but meet you there," Wendy agreed. She didn't even look at Stan to find out if that's what he wanted to do. Craig did but Stan shrugged knowing that disagreeing wasn't an option.

"Fine have fun shopping." Craig laughed at Stan and followed Token over to Gameworks.

"I don't really want to window shop," Stan complained. He would admit that he liked to dress good, and he did have a sense of fashion, but he didn't have any money so looking at stuff that he couldn't have just depressed him.

"I'll look you just whine about how much you miss Kyle." Wendy looped her arm in his.

"We already did that on the bus. Can we please talk about you?" Stan asked.

"Oh lets talk about Kelly instead. Did you know that she's slept with over 100 guys?" Wendy said as she dragged him over to the window display. There were manikins with polos and tight jeans. Stan glared at it. He hated that a manikin got to dress better than he did. It really wasn't fair. If Kyle was here he would see the manikin and probably pick it over him to hang out with. It was so frustrating. "Stan, are you listening?"

"No." Stan frowned before turning to look at his best friend. "How can you even stand walking with me? I'm wearing Khaki shorts and this shirt is too big for me!"

Wendy stared at Stan. "You're dressed better than Craig and I'm dating him."

"Yeah well, you don't really have that much to chose from." Stan frowned more his shoulders dropping. "I'm being silly huh?"

"Did you just use the word silly?" Wendy laughed she continued down the middle of the mall making her way to Gameworks.

Stan blushed and looked away from her. He had grown up with three best friends who were guys, so he always thought that he was really masculine even if he liked other guys, but when he was with Wendy and he felt comfortable he just let it out. He still liked sports and rough housing but he also liked dressing good and he even liked show tunes. Wendy steered them over to Gameworks and followed the sounds of Craig yelling at Token at the air hockey table.

"You like that pussy do you?" Craig yelled as they walked up. He spotted Wendy and Stan but his smack talk didn't change. "You love sucking my cock don't you?"

"Hey Stan. Wendy," Token said. He was politer than Craig and didn't usually retaliate on Craig's smack. He especially didn't act like that around girls. Even if he was more incline to do it if guys other than Craig, Stan and Clyde were in the room.

"Hey Black, you don't really have the lead to be chit-chatting." Craig shot the puck down the table at his best friend. The puck went in and he kissed Wendy on the cheek while Token retrieved it. "Stan, I saw Kenny and fatass here earlier."

"Kenny?" Stan perked up. He knew for a fact that Kyle and Kenny were practically related. Their fathers had been best friends since elementary school and they remained so even now. Kenny was usually glued to Kyle's side outside of classes. If Kenny was here Kyle was probably close by, especially since Kenny had even less money than Stan did and would need Kyle around if he wanted to play any of the games.

"Yeah he's over there playing RoboCops or something." Craig leaned back over the hockey table. He smirked.

Stan turned to Wendy glaring at her. "What?"

Stan didn't say anything until Craig started to yell at Token again. He leaned close to her. "You told him."

"Oh God Stan. I did not. Stop acting so paranoid. The last time I checked you weren't on drugs." Wendy huffed walking away from Stan and the other boys. She knew there was a DDR pad somewhere in the place.

Craig laughed at Stan when he caught his eyes. "You better crawl to her and apologize. She'll stop letting you be her bitch if you don't."

"I'm not her bitch!" Stan complained, loudly.

"Go suck her pussy Stan. You know you want to," Craig grunted as he hit the puck across the table.

"Sick dude! How can you say that about your girlfriend?" Stan yelled. Craig smirked at him again. "Oh god!" He stomped off. He really didn't want to confront Craig about this. It was obvious that he knew Stan's secret and was lording it over him, until he came clean at least. Stan didn't know if coming clean would be worse then this game or not. Probably, it would be worse. He didn't want to find out.

Instead, of looking for Wendy, she was already wiping Cartman's face on the DDR floor, Stan walked strategically around. He saw Kenny in the rows is first person shooter games, but he walked around the place and played a few random games before making his ways over to where Kenny was. Kyle was obviously not here with his friends. It was a disappointment, but Stan thought that maybe Kyle would arrive soon. He stopped at the game next to Kenny's and leaned against it. Kenny spared him a glance. "Hey Stan." He returned to the game shooting anything that moved.

"Hey Kenny. How's your summer been?" Stan said trying to sound casual. He didn't want to start talking about Kyle immediately. It was rude and way too desperate.

"It sucks." Kenny glared at the screen. "Dad forgot to pay the water bill and he used all the money we did have on beer so we don't have electricity either."

"Wow, that does suck." Stan grimaced. He knew Kenny was poor everyone knew that, but none of them really had any money to spare, so Stan didn't realize there was anything different about Kenny then the rest of them. However, Stan had never gone without water or electricity before.

"Yeah. What about yours?" Kenny didn't look up from his game.

"Same old shit. It's so boring." Stan shifted. He never really talked to Kenny before they didn't have classes together and they only knew each other because of Kyle. So he was running out of things to say. "I saw Eric in here too. Did you come together?"

Kenny laughed. Stan flinched not sure what he said that was so funny. "You can call him fatass you know. Everyone else does." Kenny looked up at Stan. "Even I do."

"Oh." Stan shuffled. He had talked to Cartman even less than he had Kenny. He really didn't think it was right to make fun of someone he didn't know. "So, did you?"

"Yeah we're meeting Kyle here." Kenny's focus returned to the game.

Stan tried not to look excited or even happy about hearing that Kyle was going to be here soon. "Oh yeah, how is Kyle?"

"The fucking idiot decided to get a job. He says it will look good on his college applications. I don't see why he even bothers." Kenny rolled his eyes.

Stan nodded. He knew how focused Kyle was on getting into a good school. He didn't say anything, but he wanted out of Colorado just like everyone who went to school with them. The only difference was that Kyle could actually get out. "That's cool. At least he'll have money next year."

"You sound just like him." Kenny dropped the gun as the game ended he felt around his pockets for more money. He couldn't afford to buy the hour pass. Stan pulled five dollars after a while and handed it to him. "That's why we have to wait for him. He's working right now."

"He works at the mall? Where? Hot dog on a stick?" Stan asked. It was the only job he could think of that a kid could get at the mall.

Kenny laughed again. "Stan he wants his job to look good on his applications and he's not going to culinary school."

"Oh. Then where is he working?" Stan asked. He was already planning his escape. He would sneak over to whatever store it was and hang around until he spotted Kyle. He'd act surprised to see him there, and then well…he wasn't sure what would happen after that.

Kenny paused in his game he looked at Stan. "If you want to know where Kyle is, give me twenty bucks."

"What! Why would I give you twenty bucks? I don't care where Kyle works? Why would I care about something like that? I don't care. I mean he'll be here soon anyway." Stan shrugged his shoulders.

"Will he?" Kenny asked. "Is it 4 already?"

"N-no. Not even close." Stan sighed. There was no way he was going to give Kenny twenty dollars. He didn't need to know where Kyle was that badly. He could probably go through every store at the mall and find him before four, but he wasn't Kyle's stalker or anything. Stan pouted to himself for a while. This summer really sucked. Even if he did have running water, what did it matter when all he thought about was Kyle? It was driving him crazy. It pissed his friends off and made him crabby. He kind of wished that he had never met Kyle. He was hopelessly pathetic when it came to him and Stan would have been happier being ignorant of his feelings for other boys. It would be another story if Kyle felt the same way, but there wasn't a chance that he did. So meeting him was just not worth it at all.

"He's at Circuit City." Kenny finally said. Stan had been standing there pouting for a while and Kenny's good heart won out. Plus, it was annoying having Stan hovering over him, not even talking.

"Circuit City? Really? That sounds cool." Stan perked up looking at Kenny. He got a knowing smiling from Kenny and it made Stan a little unnerved but since he didn't grow up with Kenny it didn't have the same effect that Craig's did. Stan looked around trying to find a reasonable way to leave without sprinting to circuit city. "Clyde!" Stan yelled jogging over to the other boy. He was shooting baskets into a hoop that moved forward and backwards.

"Hey Stan," Clyde offered him a ball. Stan made a shot easily but didn't take another. "Do you want shoes too?"

"Well, yeah I actually do, but that's not why I'm over here. Do you want to check out the new Madden game? I want to put it on hold, you know because it comes out near my birthday." Stan asked.

"Sure. This place sucks anyway." Clyde made a final basket that was 15 in all and followed Stan out of Gameworks. "Do you really want me to get you discount on shoes?"

Stan smiled. He would love getting discounts on shoes; however, he didn't want to take advantage of his friend like that. Plus, what was the point of having awesome shoes if his clothes still sucked. "Only if you want to."

"We get freebies sometimes. What's your size? I'll bring you some." Clyde asked. Stan looked him over not sure it Clyde was just being friendly or if Craig had blabbed to everyone. "I can tell you're a sneaker jerk Stan."

"A what?" Stan asked.

"A person who collects sneakers." Clyde shrugged. "We have a whole list of them and send them a list of the new products twice a year just to get them to come into the store."

"Oh! Yeah I like collecting shoes." Stan nodded. While that was true he didn't do it simply because he loved the shoes. He bought shoes because he wanted to look good. "I'm size thirteen. Here we are Circuit City!"

Clyde looked at Stan truly confused by his behavior. "Thanks Stan, I didn't know I still had a problem with reading."

Stan blushed and led the way into the store. Clyde made a beeline for the video games, but Stan wandered around a bit trying to see if Kyle was on the floor. He didn't see him after two laps, so he went over to where Clyde was looking at the dvds. "What were you doing?"

"Browsing." Stan tried to sound casual.

"For what?" Clyde rolled his eyes. "Let's go. Craig just texted me."

"I'm not done looking!" Stan protested. He wanted to wait a little longer. Kyle could just be on break or something. Stan didn't want to leave without giving him a chance. Clyde started at him. He obviously didn't believe Stan. "Just go. I'll find you guys later."

"Whatever," Clyde muttered walking away. He glanced back at Stan at the door but continued walking when Stan waved at him. After he left it was easier for Stan to loiter. He first loitered at the DVDs picking random ones up like he was going to buy them but putting them back after a while like he decided not to. Then he went over to the PC games and started loitering over there.

"Hey Stan." Kyle's voice startled Stan. He was so busy trying to look like he wasn't a creepy stalker that he didn't see Kyle when he walked by the aisle and doubled back when he saw Stan. In fact, Stan was so startled that he yelped. Kyle laughed at him making Stan even more embarrassed. "Can I help you find something?"

"Huh, oh, n-no. I'm just looking," Stan said his hand had his heart. It felt like it was trying to escape his ribcage. "God you scared me."

"I wasn't trying to be sneaky." Kyle smiled. "I might have to next time. The look on your face was just too good."

Stan frowned looking hurt. If he knew Kyle like he did Craig or Clyde he would know that Kyle was just having fun with him, but the truth was he couldn't tell if Kyle was serious or not.

"Hey don't be upset." Kyle straightened his face after he apologized. "How has your summer been?"

"Lousy. Wendy is dating Craig now and she just keeps rubbing it in my face. Plus, she keeps trying to set me up. She even tried to make me do one of those magazine quizzes." Stan rolled his eyes. It was mostly true although he thought it didn't let on to who she was trying to set him up with. "Hey, do-do you work here?" There now they were getting back to his 'plan'.

Kyle raised an eyebrow and tugged on his red vest. "Yeah."

"That's cool. Cool." Stan bobbed his head in a semi nod. Kyle just stared at him. It was obvious that he was not buying Stan's nonchalant attitude. "What made you decide to get a job?"

"I like really cool cars. Those aren't cheap," Kyle explained. He was only fifteen but he would turn sixteen the next year. If he had enough money he could get a slightly used car that needed TLC but was much cooler then a civic. "Plus, it looks good to schools if I didn't spend all summer being lazy."

"You already look good." Stan rolled his eyes. Then catching what he said he quickly amended. "To schools. You look good to schools. That's not to say that you don't look good to people too or anything. Don't get me wrong there, but I don't think you really have to pull all this extra curricular crap. We're not in the northeast."

"Yeah I know that Stan, but remember the thing about the awesome car?" He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled into the pictures. "This is what I'm looking for." He showed Stan an old '67 mustang convertible. It was red and fixed to show. Stan wasn't much of a car expert but he knew this one looked fantastic. "Of course I'll take a beat up one and resort it."

Stan swooned slightly. He didn't know that much about cars or mechanics but it made Kyle seem manly and strong. It took him a while to realize that it was his turn to talk. "Maybe you'll give me a ride sometime."

"Sure. I'll take you for a ride." Kyle grinned, his eyes were darker than before, and there was huskiness to his voice that made Stan blush. Kyle laughed. "I'm getting off of work soon. Are you hanging around the mall long?"

"We're going to a movie at 4:30. You can come if you want. Kenny and Eric can come too. It'll be fun," Stan said eager to spend the rest of the day with Kyle.

"Oh so you saw Kenny in the mall already?" Kyle raised an eyebrow. Stan nodded. "Did he tell you that I worked here?"

"Uh…well…he wasn't going to when I asked. I…" Stan blushed and hung his head.

Kyle laughed. "I thought it was weird that you were in here looking at Barbie at Fairy Island." Kyle pointed at the shelf of games they were in front of. It happened to be games for kids seven and younger. Stan blushed more and looked really uncomfortable. "Hey, relax. You got busted, but I don't care."

"You don't care?" Stan perked up. He was still blushing, but he was also smiling.

"I don't care Stan. I'll meet you at the movies okay." Kyle returned the smile. Stan nodded. "I have to get back to work though. So I'll see you then."

"Okay, yeah cool that sounds cool," Stan agreed. He didn't know a cool way to leave so he walked out of the aisle trying not to go too fast, but broke out into a sprint once he was out of the store.

He needed to find Wendy. He had to tell her everything. He felt like he was going to explode. He hurried back to Gameworks and was disappointed to find that all of his friends were gone, even Kenny and Cartman were missing. He grabbed his phone to check to see if they left him any messages.

_At Shiny Nails see you there._

_Dude! Where are you? I'm in the process of losing my man card._

Stan wrinkled his noses. He left Gameworks and went upstairs to where Shiny Nails was. He winced when he saw the guys lined up in chairs at the front of the shop. He entered casually. "Where the hell did you go, ass fuck?"

"Sorry guys. I saw Kyle at Circuit City and we were talking," Stan's explanation earned him six birdies. "How did this happen exactly?"

"We beat them at Red Racer, two to one!" Wendy called from in the back where she was sitting getting her nails done. Bebe was at the table next to her. Heidi and Rebecca were getting their toes done even further back. Red Racer was one of those motorcycle video games. It was Craig's favorite and he particularly prided himself at being the best at it. It was no wonder that he was pissed, but Stan didn't feel bad. Kyle was worth it.

"We wouldn't have if there had been four of us. Four on four Stan," Craig growled. "I hope you got your cock sucked."

"Oh come on. It's not that bad. You just have to wait a while until they're done." Stan tried to reason with them, it was boring not bad.

"No, we're going next," Clyde groaned. "They get to pick we have to pay."

"Oh, well…maybe they'll wax your brows…"

"What?" Clyde touched his eyebrows they were huge and bushy, but he never even noticed. "What's wrong with my eyebrows?"

"Well you could try trimming them, or even brushing them so they're not all ratty and gross." Stan knew he was digging himself in deeper but he was defending the time that he spent with Kyle.

Clyde stared at Stan for a while and then stood up to look at the mirror over the front counter. Craig rolled his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest and huffed. Stan looked at Token. "Why aren't you mad?"

"I'm not the one that ran my avatar into a wall and lost to my girlfriend." Token glared at Craig when he flipped him off. "Besides, my Dad gets manicures all the time. It's not that big of a deal. As long as I can get the color off tonight after the movie."

"Token can get away with this, his parents are rich. We do it and we'll just look like fa…" Craig trailed off looking away. Stan was a little surprised that Craig bothered to censor himself. He never hesitated to call Stan or any of his friend pussies or cock suckers before.

Stan stared at him. It was obvious that Craig knew. He was pretty sure all of his friends knew. He didn't want to say it out loud though. If it was not acknowledged then they could always pretend that it didn't exist. If it didn't exist, then nothing had to change. "Let me talk to Wendy," Stan sighed and walked back into the nail salon. He knelt close to Wendy. "Hey, I'm sorry about being so paranoid early."

"It's okay Stan." Wendy smiled at him obviously not angry anymore.

"Want to know something?" Stan asked. Wendy raised an eyebrow. "I talked to Kyle earlier. He works at Circuit City."

"You did!" Wendy looked excited. "What happened you have to tell me everything?"

"I don't want to say. Not in front of everyone." Stan looked over at the front of the store.

"Whoa, no way. Those guys lost. They owe us. Besides, telling Wendy gossip doesn't give me anything," Bebe spoke up she was sitting at the table next to Wendy there was a little aisle. but she could hear them.

"I asked him to come to the movies with us. He said yes. I think it might be a date." Stan sat back so that he could look at both of them. Wendy and Bebe glanced at each other. They squealed looking as excited as Stan felt when he was sprint down the mall corridor. "I'd really appreciate if you two helped me get ready for it. A nice manicure and some better clothes could really help me out right now. What do you say?"

Bebe and Wendy looked at each other and they both agreed to help with a nod. They knew Stan was distracting them, but they also knew that he was telling the truth. So they were willing to take the bait this time. They even sent Rebecca and Heidi out of the nail salon with the rest of the boys so that Stan would feel comfortable telling them everything. Stan had to admit it was nice being pampered. He liked getting his nails done, even though he had never done so before. The lady gave his hands a massage and he was really surprised by how nice his nails looked, although he didn't think he would be doing this very often, that is unless Kyle really liked it. Then they went shopping. Even though Stan had complained before about not having the money to spend on clothes, Stan knew that it was only a matter of spending the next two weeks staying at home and watching television all day, by then his allowance should give him enough to go to lunch and the occasional movie, but it was completely worth it if Kyle thought he looked good. Luckily, Bebe was with him and she found a pair of jeans and a blue collared shirt on sale. They both fit him really well, especially the jeans. He didn't have the ass that Kyle did, but he could always wear jeans well. When they were done they went to the department stores and found some try on body spray for Stan to wear. They arrived at the theater just as the lights turned down and the previews started. Bebe went to sit by Rebecca and Heidi. She knew Wendy would be making out with Craig most of the movie so she thought it was best if she just avoided up chucking her popcorn.

"You guys are late," Craig said offering Stan a soda and putting an arm around Wendy. Stan sat next to her it was closer to the end of the aisle then on the other side of Bebe but he didn't feel comfortable sitting with the other girls. "It's diet."

"Diet?" Stan asked confused about Craig's comment. Craig flipped him off and turned to Wendy. Stan stared at the diet coke for a while but put it in the cup holder as the movie began to start. He was so excited about Kyle meeting him at the movies that he didn't realize that Kyle wasn't in the theater even though the movie had already started. Once it hit Stan he instantly felt depressed. He had been looking forward to seeing Kyle, even if it wasn't officially a date or anything. It really hurt that Kyle wasn't there, even though Stan didn't think Kyle was trying to hurt him on purpose.

"Hey Stan," Kyle said as he sat down next to him.

Stan yelped and jolted forward. He was on his feet and the group looked at him like he needed to be locked up. Kyle grabbed his wrist and dragged him back to his seat. "That's the second time this day."

"Sorry." Stan blushed, but didn't try to hide it since it was dark. "I didn't see you come in."

"Yeah the movie's already started. You didn't tell me which movie you were seeing, so I had to look in two other theaters before this and I had to sneak away from Cartman and Kenny," Kyle admitted.

"They could have come with," Stan said although he didn't actually mean it. He didn't dislike either of them, but in this case more was not merrier. Less would be merrier right now.

Kyle squeezed his hand and looked back to the screen. "What's happening?" Stan didn't hear what Kyle said. He was looking at their hands. He remembered that Kyle grabbed it when he had stood up, but he thought Kyle would have let go of his hand. Until Kyle had squeezed his hand he didn't even think anything strange about it, but now it was taking his full attention. Kyle was holding his hand. _He's holding my hand_. He repeated like a mantra in his head.

"Oh god." Stan jumped up from his seat and dashed out of the theater into the bathroom. He up chucked in the toilet. Then he went to the skin and splashed water on his face. His weak stomach was a source of embarrassment from a young age, at least he could make it to the toilet these days, but it was still embarrassing.

He looked up when the door open. Kyle came in and stood between the urinals and the sink. "Hey you okay?"

"Yes. I'm sorry. I was just nervous…" Stan blushed again this time turning away. He was looking at Kyle through the mirror so he turned his head away from the door.

Kyle put a hand on his shoulder. He stared back at him in the mirror for a few moments. He looked away before saying, "Stan, its okay."

"No, it's not." Stan spun around to face Kyle. He was glad that Kyle wasn't as close as he appeared in the mirror. "I really like you Kyle and I keep messing it up."

Kyle let out a deep sigh of relief. "Oh good you know."

"I know?"

"That you've been flirting with me." Kyle shrugged his shoulders. "It's called denial Stan. I couldn't tell if you knew or not. I didn't want to get my hopes up or anything."

"Really?" Stan brightened up.

"Yup. Come on Stan. I have a huge crush on you." Kyle tilted his head to the side his cheeks were colored lightly.

"You do?"

"Have you ever looked in a mirror Stan? You're sort of dreamy." Kyle smiled.

"Dreamy?"

Kyle laughed shaking his head. "If I said you were hot or sexy I don't think you would understand how good looking you are."

"Oh." Stan nodded. He really didn't know what dreamy meant either but hot and sexy were too insensitive dreamy was more romantic that was certain. "You're not just saying so because I'm the only other guy that likes other guys at the school."

"There are lots of gays at our school Stan." Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Have you ever talked to anyone in drama?"

"No…I thought that was a stereotype." Stan frowned.

"Well it is, but it's actually true here. Even I would be in drama if I wasn't already doing the debate team, tennis, lacrosse, track, cross country, student counsel and all the other crap I do. I can't do everything." Kyle grinned.

"I like drama," Stan admitted.

Kyle laughed. "You're so pathetic." Stan frowned looking away. Pathetic was never a good thing. Kyle took Stan's wrist in his hand and continued. "You're so nervous you don't even know what you're going to say before it comes out of your mouth, huh?"

"I can't help it," Stan mumbled still not looking at Kyle.

"That's sweet," Kyle spoke softly as if to him self instead of to Stan. Stan looked over at Kyle. He was looking inward and not out, unless Kyle was really that interested in the sleeve covering his left shoulder. That made Stan feel relieved. He was still embarrassed about acting so lovesick, but at least Kyle seemed to cherish it. Stan leaned forward tilting his head he looked at Kyle's lips; slowly he descended closer and closer. "Whoa." Kyle put a hand between their lips. Stan's shoulders slumped and he shook off Kyle's wrists. "You just up chucked. I don't think so."

Stan blinked unsure if Kyle had rejected him or just rejected his vomit breath. Kyle turned his head slightly and pointed at his check. "Until you rinse with mouthwash that's as close as you're going to get."

"Okay." Stan smiled. He kissed Kyle's cheek. It was really sixth grade, but for some reason it made his stomach tingle anyway. "So, ah are we dating?"

"Hm well, I think that depends." Kyle looked thoughtful for a moment. "I have one condition."

"What?" Stan asked. He wasn't willing to do anything that Kyle asked after all he didn't believe in selling himself for another person. He didn't think it was right for someone to have to earn love or commitment.

"When I ask you to show me your guns will you flex your arms?" Kyle asked.

"Will I do what?" Stan asked surprised by the request and unsure of what he meant by that.

Kyle rolled his eyes and put a hand on Stan's biceps. "Flex."

"Kyle." Stan blushed but lifted his arm so that he could flex his biceps. Kyle grinned squeezing the arm with the delight of a child in a candy store.

"Please?" Kyle begged.

"That's the only condition you have?" Stan asked.

"Yup. I have dreams about these beautiful arms."

"What kind of dreams?" Stan felt a little violated that Kyle dreamed about his arms. Were they attached to his body or were they just his arms.

"You know like I've had a really crappy day and I find you and you wrap these beautiful arms around me and it's just good." Kyle blushed lightly but he didn't look away. "Or I wake up in your arms."

Stan looked at his arms a little confused. He really didn't know what was so great about them. They were nice, he supposed, but he just didn't get it. Stan put his arms around Kyle's waist and pulled him closer. "So like that?"

Kyle shivered and then melted into Stan's arms. Stan didn't think people actually melted but Kyle's whole body sagged and Stan was pretty sure he would collapse onto the floor if Stan disappeared.

"Oh god you two are pussies," Craig grumbled as he walked over to the urinals.

Token followed him in but stopped to look at them for a little while. "Wow that took you two long enough." He turned away from Kyle and Stan walking over to the urinals too.

Kyle straightened up looking not surprised at all that the other guys were accepting them so easily. He knew that Stan was gay from the beginning he just didn't know if Stan knew or not. It didn't surprise him that Stan's friends knew that Stan was gay too.

Stan on the other hand spluttered trying to figure out something to say. He couldn't deny that he and Kyle had been hugging, but he didn't want to be called a pussy either. "Just because we're guys doesn't mean we can't kiss in public."

The only reply he received was Craig's finger. He couldn't even see his face so he wasn't sure what that meant. Stan grunted. Kyle grabbed Stan by the wrist and led him back to inside the theater. He led them back up to their seats.

"You missed half the movie Stan," Wendy scolded. She looked between Kyle and Stan. "So what happened?"

"Wendy not now," Stan hushed not wanting to gossip about Kyle when he was sitting right there.

"We're dating." Kyle leaned over the armrest to whisper around Stan. It probably would have disturbed other people in the theater, but since it was the middle of the day they were the only group watching the movie.

Wendy nodded. She glanced at Stan. She and Kyle were on student council and the debate team together but they weren't really friends. So she wanted confirmation from Stan. Stan nodded still not comfortable talking about Kyle when he was sitting right there. "Tell Craig I'll be right back." Wendy stood and hurried over to where Bebe was sitting. She sat down next to her and they immediately started giggling.

"What's that about?" Kyle asked. He ran his fingers over the back of Stan's arm from the elbow to the hand. He interlaced his fingers with Stan's squeezing.

Stan rotated his hand so that their hands were palm to palm. He squeezed back. "She's going to tell Bebe about us."

"Oh." Kyle looked down the row at them. "That's okay?"

"Yeah. It's just the most interesting thing that's happened since they found out that Kelly blew the Spanish teacher." Stan shrugged his shoulders.

"Gross that guy is totally disgusting. I've seen him hit on so many girls. Our school has so many crappy teachers." Kyle started to complain but he was cut off when Craig and Token came back from the bathroom. They stood up to let them through to their seats.

"Wendy said she'll be back," Stan whispered.

Craig looked down the row to Bebe and Wendy. "Doubt it." He rolled his eyes but he didn't look too disappointed. He wasn't going to get pass second base _here_ anyway. He turned to Token and said something too quiet for Stan to hear over the movie. After a minute Token and Craig crawled over the seats in front of them and left the theater.

"They're probably going to see the slasher movie," Stan commented.

The two guys looked up at their own movie. They had no idea what was going on since they had missed most of the beginning. Kyle looked over at Stan. "Normally, I would take this chance to kiss you, but we still have the problem with the vomit."

Stan smiled just a bit. "You're normally in this situation?"

"Well, I had a girlfriend for a little while in the seventh grade. Then there were the boys at summer camp." Kyle explained.

"What boys?" Stan felt unreasonably hurt.

"Just two once after the seventh grade and once after eighth grade." Kyle squeezed Stan's hand again. "It was just some kissing."

"Oh." Stan stared ahead at the movie screen. It wasn't like he hadn't kissed before, but it had been at spin the bottle games and there was that one kiss in middle school from Sally Darson. Stan immediately shoved her away. She stumbled into the wall and everyone stopped what they were doing to see what happened. Stan bolted after that. None of the girls that went to his middle school tried to kiss him again. A few girls flirted with him last year, but Stan never took the bait. He just wasn't interested in girls not even for practice. He hadn't known that there were other gay guys at school and so he just assumed that he would go unkissed at least until college. He thought Kyle was just as inexperienced and he felt stupid that it hurt him.

"Hey." Kyle leaned closer to Stan and placed his free hand on Stan's cheek. Stan looked over at him. "Let's do something special."

"Huh?"

Kyle leaned even more forward and pressed his closed mouth against Stan's jaw right below his ear. Stan shivered and leaned his head back against the seat. He closed his eyes. He felt Kyle's mouth open just slightly. He lazily sucked on that spot. Stan gripped Kyle's hand and the leg of his pants with the other. He hadn't even imagined stuff like this yet. Craig and Clyde talked about his sort of thing and Tolken always nodded along like he'd done it too, but Stan never thought it would be like this. He opened his mouth and gasped.

A kernel hit his cheek and a few more hit Kyle. Stan pulled away from Kyle and then whipped his head around to see who was throwing popcorn. Clyde grinned. He was sitting with Heidi and Rebecca. He had previously been swapping spit with at least one of them maybe both, but obviously this was more entertaining. "Clyde." Stan shot up and was after him. Clyde was bigger than him all around and he was one of Stan's favorite linebackers but he couldn't throw a punch to save his life. Plus he was slow, so Stan caught him on the last step of the theater and jumped him knocking both of them to the ground. Stan punched him hard four times in the shoulder to make sure that it was well and truly dead. Clyde grunted but held back crying because he didn't want to look like a wimp in front of the girls. Usually when the guys fought they would milk their injuries so that the person doling out the punishment would stop faster.

"Come on guys grow up," Wendy said as she and Bebe passed them by as they exited the theater the movie wasn't over but now no one knew what was going on so it seemed like a waste to stay for thirty minutes to watch the rest.

Clyde rolled his eyes and made faces at Wendy's back as she walked away. Bebe giggled as she caught a few.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I was enjoying that." Stan glared down at his friend.

"We _know_, we all know. You moaned so loud it was impossible for anyone not to know. It distracted me from what I was enjoying." Clyde sat up on his elbows. He could easily push Stan off now, but that would go against the pinning code.

"What!" Stan looked shocked. He wasn't being that loud, was he?

"Here Stan." Kyle offered a hand to help him up. He didn't seem annoyed like Wendy was. Heidi and Rebecca stood on either side of them, looking entertained by the guys' actions.

Stan took the hand and carefully got off of Clyde. He then offered his hand to his friend. "Sorry dude."

Clyde shrugged, brushing himself off. "Craig's done worse."

"Yeah, but with girls so…"

"So?" Clyde shook his head.

"Whatever." Stan looked away. He wasn't going to push it. If Clyde didn't see a difference between Craig with Wendy and him with Kyle then he was going to show him a difference. Kyle didn't take his hand when they left the theater, but he put a hand on his bicep. Stan flexed his arm. Kyle smiled and rubbed his index finger over the bulge of his triceps.

Clyde, Stan and Kyle waited with the girls in the parking lot for Token and Craig to come out of the slasher movie. Clyde picked up rocks and threw them repeatedly at the wall of the mall. He let out a cheer every time the rock made a crack or dent.

Wendy looked more and more annoyed and even yelled at Clyde a couple of times. Bebe and the other girls were looking at their painted toes and fingers together. They kept looking over at Stan every once and a while so he assumed that they were all avoiding gossiping about him when he was right there.

"Relax." Kyle rubbed Stan's arm.

"I am relaxed."

"No relax your arm." Kyle rubbed again. Stan relaxed his arm. "Now flex." Stan raised a brow, but did as Kyle asked since he had promised. Kyle's eyes brightened and his smile grew. He looked up at Stan. "Do it again?" Kyle asked. Stan watched Kyle as he relaxed and flexed his arm. He didn't really understand Kyle when he said that he thought Stan was dreamy, but Kyle's interest in just his arms was more proof than he could handle. He felt a fluttering in his intestines. He wrapped his arms around Kyle, just under his ribs and pulled him close. Both of Kyle's hands were on his upper arms resting between his shoulders and biceps. He felt Kyle sag against him, not melt, just his knees buckle a little. Stan suspected that Kyle wasn't willing to lose complete control around all Stan's friends. "I really want to kiss you." Kyle looked up at Stan. He was two inches shorter than Stan.

"Well I don't mind." Stan flexed his arms when he tightened his arms around Kyle. They were crossed around Kyle's lower back and his fingers curled around the belt loops of Kyle's jeans. Kyle was much leaner than Stan was as he had never been conditioned for a sport that needed so much muscle. He was in track which called for being lean and lacrosse was about speed as well. Stan was in football, he did wrestling and he did swim to get out of baseball in the spring. So he had big arms and a broad chest. Stan was naturally more muscular and put muscle on fast too. It made Stan feel like he was protecting Kyle. Like Kyle really needed him. It was a good feeling to have.

"I can't, remember?" Kyle shook his head looking a little green even at the thought.

"We'll keep our mouths closed. I promise." Stan swore. He wanted to kiss Kyle now and in the future. He wasn't about to throw a fast one, but if he could get just a little more he'd be happier.

Kyle looked at Stan suspiciously before nodding. Stan closed his mouth and then Kyle did. Kyle used his hold on Stan to rise up a little. He barely pecked Stan but Stan held on tight not letting Kyle get more than a few inches away. Kyle took the hint and pressed his mouth to Stan's for longer. Closed mouth kisses were tender in a way that the slowest open mouth kiss could never be. It was gentle and kind. It was beautiful the way a winter morning was when spring was on the way. The sun would be shining and bright, snow covered the ground and a few deer made tracks in it as they searched for food.

"What the fuck? You stupid faggots! There are kids around!" Cartman yelled loudly. Kenny, Craig and Token were with him, probably because Kenny and Cartman had been in the slasher movie that Craig and Token snuck into.

"Go to hell." Kyle glared at Cartman stepping back from Stan.

"Stan's a jock Kyle. He isn't gay. He's just confused. You're really embarrassing me in front of myah friends."

Kyle glanced over at Stan who actually felt confused. He never had to deal with Cartman before so he just didn't know what to think about this situation.

"Fatass!" Craig turned his middle fingers on Cartman. "Stan is gay."

"He plays football."

"We all know he plays football." Token rolled his eyes. "But he's been gay since we were in kindergarten."

"You're glib Token. Do you even know the history of homosexuality?" Cartman asked. Clyde's fist hit the side of Cartman's head so fast that no one, let alone Cartman saw it. Cartman fell backwards. He held his head with his hands. He looked up at Clyde his eyes big and shiny. "You…you could have…warned me." Cartman started to cry. He struggled to his feet and then rushed around the side of the mall.

"What the hell glib mean." Clyde asked cracking his knuckles.

"Who cares?" Token shook his head.

"I really hate that guy." Craig grumbled.

"Sorry guys." Kyle shrugged his shoulders. "I hate fatass too, but I haven't figured out how to make him go away."

Craig narrowed his eyes into a glare. He addressed Stan when he spoke, "Dude I really don't care if Kyle starts hanging around us now that you two are dating, but if fatass is around you're on your own." 

"Uh well, I'll try to control that, but I mean if he doesn't like gays or Jewish people why would he want hang around us?" Stan asked not really sure he want to have this open conversation about his sexuality without first confirming out loud in words that he was gay. 

"He's a sadist." Kyle leaned closer to Stan. "I'll remember to scrap the shit off my shoe before hanging around you. What about Kenny?" 

Kenny looked up from where he had been staring at Rebbecca's tits. "I don't care if you're gay or jewish." 

"Don't care," Craig muttered he looked at his other friends that both shrugged not bothered by Kenny either. The girls didn't say anything either a new guy to the group would be nice plus since Stan was gay the four to four ratio didn't really work out well but with Kenny it did. 

"Cool." Kyle turned to Stan. "We have to go though. The last bus picks up soon. So I'll see you soon right."

"I guess so," Stan said feeling depressed again. He just got Kyle and wanted to spend more time with him, but he knew that he had to deal with just seeing Kyle soon. 

"Alright bye." Kyle kissed his cheek still remembering that he wasn't kissing Stan on the mouth until he used mouthwash. "Call me, tonight." 

"Okay," Stan agreed feeling happier that he would get to talk to Kyle later that night.

"Come on Ken." Kyle grabbed the back of Kenny's shirt and pulled him around the corner of the mall. Their bus picked up on the other side of mall because it went in the opposite direction of theirs. 

"We better go too," Token noted. There was still another bus after the mall closed that went into South Park but they were all expected home for dinner most nights. Stan followed his friends over to the bus stop. He knew he would have to bring up the whole gay thing, more for himself than for his friends, later, just to make sure he knew where he stood with them, but right now he was too happy from his sort of date with Kyle to bring up anything that might possibly ruin his good mood. He didn't even say anything when Wendy sat with Bebe and Stan had to sit behind Clyde because Clyde wanted to stretch out on a seat of his own.


End file.
